The Serbian had been out since September after suffering a recurrence of a knee injury but started United's 1-1 draw with Swansea last week before making the bench for their 4-3 Boxing Day win over Newcastle.

And Giggs believes the centre-back has been a big miss, telling AbsoluteRadio: "He’s a great defender, a world class defender, so we’ve no doubt missed him over the last year or so."

The Welshman went on to express concern over his side’s current defensive frailty, conceding the Red Devils would like to have kept more clean sheets.